


Standing By and Waiting at Your Backdoor

by voiceoftreas0n



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Based on a Taylor Swift Song, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Pining, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-11-17 00:28:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11264208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voiceoftreas0n/pseuds/voiceoftreas0n
Summary: People would usually give up when the person they liked had someone else. That was the logical thing to do, even if crushes were usually the most illogical thing in the known universe.But nope, that didn’t apply to Katie apparently.Or alternatively: wherein which Pidge is in love with her best friend and Shiro is not only oblivious but also verytaken.





	1. A Typical Friday Night

**Author's Note:**

> *cracks knuckes*  
> So. I originally planned for this story to be a one-shot but like many other one-shots I've written in the past, it blew up into a multi-chaptered mess. Fun fact: the idea for this story came to mind when [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuNIsY6JdUw) started playing at my favorite restaurant. I hereby have my love for carbonara to thank for this story.

**_Newton’s Laws of Motion_ **

_Number one: Law of Inertia. An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. An object in motion will remain in motion at the same direction and speed unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. All objects resist changes in their state of motion. Balanced forces would cancel the force and leave the object in indefinite rest. As such, the force that acts upon the object must be of greater force for there to be a change in motion._

_Second: Law of Acceleration. Acceleration is produced when a force acts on a mass. The greater the mass of the object, the greater the amount of force needed to accelerate it. The change of momentum of an object is proportional to the force impressed upon it._

_Third and last: Law of Reciprocal Action. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction._ _The mutual actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal, and directed to contrary parts_. _Whatever_ _draws or presses another is as much drawn or pressed by that other-_

**Bzzz. Bzzz.**

The sound of her phone vibrating on her bed made Katie look away from her physics textbook with a start. She ran a hand through her unruly hair with one hand while the other immediately reaching for her phone for an impromptu study break.

**_Shiro: Busy?_ **

There was no stopping the smile that showed on her face as soon as she saw the name on the screen.

Katie adjusted her glasses before typing in her reply.

**_Katie: Not really. Physics is child’s play_ **

**_Shiro: As expected from the Holt prodigy_ **

She rolled her eyes at the reply and began typing in her response when her phone vibrated again.

**_Shiro: Mind telling Matt that I’m coming over?_ **

**_Katie: What_ **

Katie impulsively looked up at her windows to look at the ones in the house beside hers, imagining Shiro chuckling to himself in his room right behind the drawn curtains.

**_Shiro: It’s Friday night, you’re bored, I’m bored, and we still haven’t finished some shows._ **

Friday night with Shiro and binge watching. How can she say no to that?

**_Katie: Deal. See you in a bit_ **

* * *

Fifteen minutes later the doorbell rang, and Katie found herself rushing to the door. “Hey.” She greeted as she opened it. Of course the smile on her face when he first texted just grew even bigger.

Not everyone had the privilege to see Takashi ‘Shiro’ Shirogane, star quarterback and resident campus crush, in his sweatpants with messy hair and binge on Netflix for the whole night with him.

But then again there were certain perks to being his best friend and being the little sister of

“Hey.” He took a step inside and looked around. “Where’s Matt?”

“Didn’t he tell you? He’s helping dad out in the lab at HQ and that they’re pulling overtime.” she closed the door behind him.

“And your mom?”

“Staying overnight at Aunt Peggy’s.”

“So you’re essentially home alone?” he asked, the notorious dad tone making its way into his voice. Katie rolled her eyes as she made her way to the living room where the TV and a bundle of blankets and cushions on the couch were waiting for them.

“Had to watch Gunther. Also, I called everyone to inform them you were coming. Mom said you can help yourself to anything in the fridge. Dad said hey.” She said, grabbing the remote.

“And Matt?” Shiro asked as he entered the living room and settled into the couch. She sat down next to him with a grin, grabbing a blanket as she did. “He said no spoilers.”

“No promises.” He grinned back, and Katie swore her heart burst into a sprint in her ribcage. She pointedly decided to ignore the feeling and nodded to the TV. “So,” she wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and Shiro mirrored the gesture and spread his over his lap, also ignoring the skip in her pulse when his knee brushed against hers.

“What do you wanna watch first?”

* * *

 Halfway through their second series of the night, Katie let out a yawn. Shiro immediately turned to her with a quirked brow. “Tired already, Katie?”

She shook her head. “Not really. Think we can take a break? I’m starting to get a headache.”

“Sure.” And just like that he reached for the remote and hit the pause, and the episode froze on a perfect shot of a character mid-sneeze. They both chuckled at the image before standing up to stretch. Katie reached up to the ceiling, humming at the feel of the bones pop in her back. Shiro had ventured off into the kitchen and returned with a glass of water. “Here,”

She smiled at his thoughtfulness and took it with grateful nod. “Thanks.” She took one long sip. “I’m so sorry I’m a shitty host.”  Katie set the glass down on the coffee table. “Then again you’ve been over so often you practically live here. I should seriously just convince mom and dad to give you a copy of the house key.”

Shiro just chuckled and sat back on the couch, and Katie followed suit beside him. “I’d be honored.”

She faked a roll of her eyes at the old man response. “Well, now that the show’s on pause,” she turned to him. “Mind telling me why you’re really here?” he was about to open his mouth but she quickly cut him off.

“Last time I recalled, you’re only ever ‘bored’ when something’s bothering you and you need a little pick me up.” Shiro’s face fell at the statement, and she pushed on but more gently, “So what is it?”

“Am I that easy to read?” he breathed out a sigh and ran a hand through the white crop of fringe over his forehead. “I’m just stressed out, I guess. The championship game’s coming up, and then there’s finals and then prom and just…”

“Everything moving too fast?” she supplied, folding her legs under her and leaning her full weight on the couch cushions behind her.

“Kinda.”

“You sure you should be _here_ though?” Katie tore her gaze away to look down at the floor before meeting his eyes again, ignoring the painful squeeze of her chest. “It’s Friday night and you’re in need of a break. Shouldn’t you be with your girlfriend?” she fought back a wince at the word. Shiro gave her a quizzical look. Panic flared in her mind and she immediately raised waved her hands to dismiss herself.  

“I mean I’m not necessarily trying to kick you out but I just thought that Allura would be better company for you considering you’re dating and all and I was just studying, I mean it’s not necessarily studying if I was going over concepts we tackled in the first semester but it was too easy anyways since I’ve been reading about this in advance since first grade but anyways shouldn’t you be with her instead?”

She fought back another wince for rambling again. It was always such a bad habit of hers, almost like verbal fidgeting.

Then again she still felt the need to explain herself.

Why _wasn’t_ he with Allura?

Sure she was busy but that didn’t mean his presence would be unappreciated altogether. In fact, she’d probably enjoy his company as she worked herself to the bone, and Shiro would be quick to make sure she didn’t push herself too far.

What was he doing _here_?

There was something in the way he watched her, his gaze unreadable as he flopped his back on the couch. “You know Allura’s busy with student council and cheerleading.”

“True.” She nodded, realizing he just practically read her last train of thought. “But we could’ve called the others, though?” her words made it sound like she wanted to hang out with the rest of their friends but in actuality Katie just wanted an excuse to not be alone with him.

Any excuse, really.

“You know that Hunk and Lance are working part time at the diner. And Keith said he’s going overtime at Red’s.” Katie nodded again, turning away and just feeling like _dying_ right there.  

“And besides,” Shiro said, making her turn to meet his grin with one of her own. “We still have three seasons to finish before Sam and Matt come back.”

And just like that he fished out the remote and hit play.

* * *

Somewhere in the middle of the opening credits of the next episode, Shiro grabbed one of the blankets and laid it over the both of them, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as he did.

Katie stiffened at the contact, then felt herself relax in under his touch anyways. 

_He’s only doing this because you’re best friends. Nothing more._

The train of thought didn’t stop Katie from letting out a contented sigh, though, and not even the smile that began to pull at the corners of her mouth when she felt the gentle rumble of Shiro’s chest against her back as he hummed contentedly in response.

So for now she decided to revel in the moment while it lasted.

* * *

At some point her hand found his on the couch cushions, and silently their fingers entwined together. She didn’t bother looking, feeling as if any movement would break whatever spell they were under and the moment would be gone.

But from the corner of her eye she saw the tiniest of smiles for on his face, and gave his hand a small, tentative squeeze.

And in that moment she could’ve sworn her heart soared from her chest to places far beyond the Earth’s atmosphere when he squeezed back.

* * *

Someone was running their fingers through her hair.

That was as much Pidge gathered as she blearily blinked at the ceiling before her, the couch’s cushions a little too stiff under her for her taste.

Wait.

The ceiling?

The _couch_?

Katie sat up so fast her head ached in protest, the blanket that had been over her shoulders into a messy heap on her lap. A small groan escaped her lips as she pressed a palm to her forehead and fumbled for her phone in her shorts with the other hand.

**_11:37_ **

Huh. Last time she checked it was half past seven and Shiro was at the door.

_Shiro._

She instinctively turned to her side, finding the said person smiling at her. “Did you sleep well?” he asked.  

Katie threw him her best scowl and folded her arms over her chest. “When did I fall asleep?”

“Fifteen minutes ago.”

“Oh.”

So she hadn’t slept that long. Katie reached up to run a hand through her hair, then deciding to let it stay its usual floofy mess with a drop of her hand and a shrug of her shoulders as she let out a yawn.

She looked back at Shiro.

And again, that look was back on his face as he watched her.

She fought back an internal wince.

“What, there something on my face?”

Shiro only shook his head. “Nothing.” He tore his gaze from hers and breathed out a sigh. “How’s the workload going?”

Katie made a face. “Haven’t quite started yet. I’m pretty sure I could be physically buried underneath all the work I’ve been assigned to do.”  

He chuckled. “You and me both.” The couch jostled under the both of them as he flopped his back to the cushions. “How’s about it, you, me and the others power through the start Hell Week this weekend?”

Her head cocked to the side. “Don’t you guys have football practice?”

“Coach Iverson was nice enough to leave Sunday off.”

Katie nodded with a silent _oh._

“Whose place?”

Shiro thought for a moment. “Don’t you and Hunk have that final project for your robotics elective?”

Well, yeah. Last week Professor Slav tasked the class to individually craft their own small robot, with forty percent of the grade going to hardware and construction and the other sixty going to the software and intelligence.

Katie remembered swapping excited yet worried glances with Hunk as their future cause of death eagerly flashed on PowerPoint presentation in front of them, along with spending the whole lunch period bitching to the rest of the gang about the amount of work their teacher just dumped on their heads. 

How Shiro managed to remember, Katie will never know. Nonetheless she nodded.

“So here?”

It wasn’t all too bad of a stretch. Slav was nice enough to spread out the deadlines for the robot’s components for the next month and a half. Last Monday was the deadline for the final blueprint, and the rough draft of coding was due just this morning. The finished product was set to be passed and tested three weeks from now after final exams and just a few days short of prom. Getting a head start this early would just mean she had less to worry about in the long run. 

“If that’s alright.”

Katie folded her legs under her as she faced him and scoffed. “You already know how much Mom and Dad absolutely love you and the others.”

“You could say the same for Matt about Lance.” Shiro grinned.

She hit his shoulder, taking full offense. “How was I supposed to know Lance and Matt would start flirting with each other?”

“Lance flirts with everyone, Pidge.”

“Not everyone flirts back though.”

He chuckled, and it sent warmth to pool in her gut.

Their laughter soon faded into comfortable silence, which was normal when it was just the two of them.

It was also normal for Katie to take the time to fully observe him as his attention was elsewhere.

Shiro was practically sinking into the couch cushions now in the epitome of comfort, a total contrast to when Katie first saw him with a forced smile and tiredness in eyes. Now his eyes were focused on the ceiling, following the design of framework and light fixtures as if he hadn’t already memorized it from all the times he had come over. In that position hair was kind of in the way, though, and some strands of his bangs were already long enough to tickle the bridge of his nose.

 _He’d need a haircut soon_ , Katie thought.

She suddenly felt the need to brush one particularly stray lock of hair from obscuring more of his vision, and maybe even run her fingers through his forelock just because.

Tentatively she reached over.

Shiro seemed to have noticed her intention, and side-eyed to meet her glance.

Her heart leapt up to her throat.

Suddenly Shiro just closed his eyes and relaxed as he leaned his head back. As if inviting her touch.  

Katie swallowed around the lump in her throat as her hand met with his hair. It was soft, though a little tangled.

Sighing, she gently ran her finger through the strands, making sure to brush most of it away from his eyes as she went along.  

Shiro let out a contented hum, a small smile on his lips. 

.

.

.

And the front door suddenly opened.

“Sis? You there?”

 _Matt_.

Katie retracted her hand before she could’ve done anything more.

_Nope, nope._

She internally cursed. That was the threshold.

That territory was a too intimate, even if they were best friends.

Granted, being best friends did come with intimacy but this was dangerous. She may be his closest female friend, but there are some things that should only be between him and his actual girlfriend.

There was a fine line in between girl best friend and girlfriend.

Swiftly she stood up and made her way over to the door.

“Yeah I’m here.” She called as gave Shiro one last glance.

A _very_ fine line.

Shiro only smiled as he got up as well, and started cleaning up the mess of blankets and crumbs they left on the couch.

But Katie was determined to set it to a dichotomous fault.

She straightened up and shook her head before greeting her family with a smile.

“How was work today?”

* * *

Being in love with your best friend was literally one of the stupidest things you can do in your teenage life. 

Next to unprotected sex, maybe.

Or driving while texting. Or doing drugs. Or - Okay, there’s actually a _lot_ of stupid things you can do as a teenager.

But Katie’s made sure to steer clear of all of them.

She’s never even _had_ a boyfriend, much less had the privilege to act on teenage hormones with one. She always made sure to keep her phone in her bag whenever she had to drive, even if she usually just took the bus or hitched a ride with Matt or Hunk or even Keith on his bike. Hell, she’s even seen enough _Breaking Bad_ and went to enough chemistry and biology classes to know what drugs can do to the body to know that she should steer clear from said hazard.

Steered clear from _all_ hazards.

 _Well_.

She mentally backtracked.

Except maybe the very one that she didn’t see coming.

At all.

It just… _happened_ , for the lack of a better word. They’ve known each other for a while, considering that he was her brother’s lab partner and best friend. They first met when she was a freshman and he and Matt had just joined the football team in their sophomore year. 

She’d go to their games, and she’d congratulate the both of them if they won, and put a comforting hand on his shoulder if they didn’t. He’d pull an all-nighter with Matt at their place every now and then, other times just staying long enough to eat dinner upon her mother’s insistence.

And of course she was ecstatic to have _the_ Takashi Shirogane as a regular at her house (let’s be honest, who wouldn’t be?) but at that time she only regarded him as the cute older boy and he’d acknowledge her as his best friend’s little sister and by association his own younger sibling.

More than acquaintances but less than friends.

That was the routine they fell in.

And then she found out that Shiro broke an arm trying to save him from harassment from another team, and that a broken leg for Matt could’ve been the least of his worries if it meant not getting suspended or even expelled if they didn’t get killed in the process.  

They stayed together in the waiting room the whole six hours of Matt’s surgery while their parents settled everything with the authorities.

And in those six hours she got to know more about him and him about her in the entire six months since they’d been acquaintances.  

The most notable of all, Katie mused, was the fact that under the perfect façade of good grades, football quarterbacking and dazzling smiles that was Takashi Shirogane was Shiro.

Just Shiro, the kind-hearted soul who wanted nothing more than to protect his friends.

Just Shiro, who was so self-sacrificing that a broken arm meant nothing to him.

Shiro, who always insisted on putting the blame on himself.

_._

_._

_._

_“It’s not your fault, Shiro.”She chastised him, hand tentatively reaching to squeeze his arm._

_“But he’ll ever be able to play again-“_

_“No.” she knew she got off her seat to stand in front of him, one hand planting itself on his shoulder. “It’s not your fault.” she repeated. “You did what you had to and you saved his life and I can’t thank you enough.”_

_And it was true._

_If Shiro hadn’t stepped in Matt might as well could’ve been put under a coma from the ambush._

_He could’ve_ died _, for all they know._

_Katie could never forget the way he looked up to meet her gaze, a small smile finally softening his features. He crossed his good arm to cover the hand on his shoulder with his own, thumb brushing circles into the back of her hand as he squeezed._

_“Thank you, Katie.”_

.

.

.

That had just been last year. And in that span of time she learned more about Shiro that she could’ve ever hoped to expect. Not the star quarterback or the town’s pride Takashi Shirogane.

Shiro.

Just Shiro.

Like how he was somehow capable of giving the cringiest, dad joke-worthy puns at the worst times. Or how he was the most closeted fanboy for all things Netflix and binge-worthy. Or better yet the fact that he was literally the biggest dork to ever walk the face of the earth.

When her parents decided to transfer Matt to another school and Katie got accelerated into his and Shiro’s grade, they lost the title of ‘best friend’s little sister’ and ‘older brother’s best friend’ and instead became each other’s best friends, and she soon became a welcomed addition to his group of friends that comprised of Hunk, Lance and Keith.   

In a year she and Shiro had gotten pretty close.

And then she just realized that _hey,_ she actually wanted him closer.

Like constant contact closer.

 _His arm always around her shoulder_ closer.

 _Kissing_ closer, even, though she never really entertained that thought. 

Pretty sure all the shitty rom-coms and chick lit could be enough explanation for whatever bullshit phase she was going through.

At least, she thought it was a phase.

The thing is, phases didn’t last _two years_.

People would usually give up when the person they liked had someone else. That was the logical thing to do, even if crushes were usually the most illogical thing in the known universe.

But nope, that didn’t apply to Katie apparently.

No, when Shiro started going out with their mutual friend, student body president and head cheerleader Allura, instead of shrugging off her feelings and realizing she was never gonna have a chance with Takashi Shirogane like half of the school’s population, the feelings _never_ _left_.

She still looked at him like he was the sun, still enjoyed the warmth of his touch every time he put his hand on her shoulder and still felt the stupid girlish giddiness and glow in her chest whenever he smiled at her.

Except now….it would just be coupled with a little prick in between her ribs every time she saw them together in the halls. Or a drop of her stomach when she heard word that they were on a date.

Long story short, being in love with your already taken best friend was hard.

But hiding the fact that you were in love with your best friend from your other friends was _harder_. 

Katie _knew_ that Keith knew, or at least suspected, only because he was the most perceptive of them and picked up on literally _everything_.

(But if he knew or was suspecting, he didn’t say anything, and Katie couldn’t be more grateful for it.)

Hunk would be a little harder to crack, knowing that even if he _did_ know, he’d give her the privacy of letting her tell it to them himself. Katie smiled. He was always the nicest in their group.

The only real problem she had was hiding her little secret from Lance.

Now she would always consider her lanky friend as one of the people she held dearly and would always protect but he was _loud._ Not just with his voice, even. It was as if his bodily actions were set to _annoying and flashy_ as default prerogative, and he always feel the need to draw attention to himself and whatever topic caught his interest.

So of course when she noticed that Lance had caught her in one of her moments of (admittedly _longingly_ ) staring at Shiro during lunch for what seemed like the third time that week, Katie’s first response was to scowl at his shocked face.

It proved to be ineffective.

“Hunk. Hunk. Hunk.” He chanted his name repeatedly all while slapping his arm. Hunk had the misfortune to have been drinking water when Lance started hitting, and promptly swallowed a little too quickly as Lance kept hitting him like some excited lunatic.

Which he kind of was at this moment, now that Katie thought about it.

“What?” the bulky man turned to him as he set down his drink.

“It’s Pidge!” he squealed, and Katie should’ve set him to the hospital by now based on the fury in her stare.

“What about her?” Hunk humored, giving her his own furtive glance.

Hunk should be loaded on a stretcher by now, too.

“She has a thing for Shiro!”

No, scratch sending them to the hospital.

Lance should be dead on the spot. Right now.

Nothing more than a lanky corpse sprawled over the lunch table.

Yeah, that seemed like a pretty picture.  

Somehow, he seemed unfazed and kept prodding, “I called it, you _totally_ have a crush on Shiro!”

Katie opened her mouth, a string of excuses already warm and ready to use at the tip of her tongue yet falling dead before they left her mouth.

Lance was definitely an idiot but he wasn’t _that_ stupid, and even if she did come up with the perfect excuse he still wouldn’t buy it and would keep pestering her until he accidentally talks about it with Shiro around and spill her deepest darkest secret to the one person she didn’t want to know about.

Denial would get her nowhere, she realized.

Not with Lance.

Begrudgingly (and not to mention very, very, _very_ reluctantly), she nodded.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my _gosh_.”

Lance started jumping up and down on his seat, jostling the food on the table as he did, and she and Hunk had to scramble for their drinks before they spilled all over the place.

“Dude!” Hunk called.

“Calm down, Lance!”

“How can I? You like Shiro!” 

Katie ran a palm over her face. “Well didn’t _you_? Didn’t Keith?” she jutted her chin in the direction of the red leather jacket-clad boy, still falling in line to pay for lunch. “Didn’t _all_ of you have a crush on Shiro at some point?”

“Well, _yeah_.” Lance said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which it was. “But I got over it. So did Keith.”

“I dunno about you, Pidge,” Hunk started. “But the rest of us just had the closest male equivalent to a fangirl crush-“

“Man crush.” Lance quickly supplied.

“-man crush -thank you Lance- on him.” he picked off a pineapple chunk from his pizza and plopped it in his mouth before adding, “You on the other hand.” He swallowed. “You’re an entirely different story.”

Katie just narrowed his eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Oh she knew _exactly_ what it meant.

She just needed to clarify so she could have a valid reason to murder the two of them in cold blood right there.

“Sure we had a crush on him coz he was you know, _Shiro_ , but you,” Lance gestured to her entire upper body. “You got it _really_ bad.”

Katie rolled her eyes, trying her best to fight down the flush that started creeping up her cheeks. “Shut up, Lance.” Finding it to be a losing battle, Katie decided to put her energy on something more productive and satisfying.

Like lifting her foot to jam it into Lance’s shin.

The resulting screech from her lanky friend was enough to replace the blush with a grin.

“ _Dios mio_ , Pidge-“

“I’m not gonna tell him.”

“But Pidgey-“

“Call me a Pokemon one more time, Lance, I swear to god-“

“I just don’t get why you won’t just _tell_ him?” Katie just scowled in response and grabbed her juice, aggressively slurping the liquid through the straw.

“Won’t tell who what?” Keith (when did he even get here what the hell) asked as he slipped in the seat beside in between Hunk and Lance.  

“Pidge to Shiro that she likes him.” Hunk supplied after swallowing his mouthful of pizza.

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

Katie flinched on impulse, leading to her choking on her drink and slamming the pouch down as she coughed violently. She felt a hand gently rub her back and saw the water bottle thrusted in her direction, hands moving on their own to open the cap before she took a few greedy gulps and emptied out the whole thing.

She hadn’t meant to, really, so she turned in the direction of the angel who saved her.

“Thank you.” She said with a weak smile before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

“You alright?” Shiro asked, and his infamous dazzling smile was on his face while his hand continued rubbing circles on her back and Katie felt like she was gonna choke again.

“Yeah.” She said, internally wincing when it came out half an octave higher than she anticipated. She let out a cough to clear her throat, trying her best to ignore the weird way Lance was watching her every move.

_I’ll just overload his car battery. Or hot wire his phone. Or better yet corrupt his laptop so he has to start his term paper from scratch._

Ah, the powers of technology.

“Sorry about your water.” She lifted it back for emphasis before setting it down on the table. “I’ll pay you back for it.”

“No need.” He said, hand reaching up to squeeze her shoulder.

“Not joining us for lunch?” Lance suddenly piped in. Katie threw him her best smiling death glare.

_I’m gonna kill you in you sleep._

Only for the look to drop when she felt Shiro absently rubbing circles into her shoulder and she had to fight back a contented sigh from escaping her lips.

“Not today, guys.” He said, and Katie looked up at him. “Iverson needed me for something.”

The four at the table winced in sympathy. Shiro just shrugged. He turned to Katie and she could’ve sworn the look on his face softened, turned warmer into a look she just realized he only ever gave to her.

“I’ll see you later?” 

And just like that her higher brain function gave out on her, leaving her to manage a small nod in response.

Shiro’s hand went off her shoulder to give her an affectionate ruffle to her hair before waving goodbye and turn to the exit, and all she could do was stare at his back like a dumbass, taking in his straight posture and the defined back muscles she knew to be hidden under his shirt and letterman jacket and-

“Man,” Lance’s voice suddenly drawled out. “You really do have a thing for him.”

Katie kicks up to shove her heel into his other shin as hard as she can, then turns to Hunk with one of her sweetest smiles as Lance lets out a howl of pain. “Anyways,” She didn’t miss the way Hunk and Keith practically flinched in place and smiled wider.

“How’s practice going?”

Ever the voice of reason, Hunk piped in, “Pretty okay, I guess.” 

“Lance keeps messing up with his kicks though.” Keith added.   

“Hey-“

“Yeah, totally. The cheerleaders had to practice on the field and he lost balance trying impress them.”

“Come on guys-“

“Really now?” Katie smirked, feeling a tinge of petty pride puff up as Lance deflated lower and lower into his seat.

Hunk nodded.

“We’re still trying to find a way to break into Galra’s defensive line. It’s like they’re on some crazy alien tech or something. They’re practically impenetrable.”

Katie held out a hand. “Show me the clips.”

Keith shrugged.  “I only got them on my USB and it’s with Shiro.” He picked up his water bottle and twisted the cap open. “You can view them before practice.”

She managed a nod, thankful she didn’t blush at the mention of Shiro’s name. “Four-thirty to six, right?” she asked, recalling Matt’s regular schedule back when he was still on the team.

Her friends only shook their heads.

“Uh-uh.”

“Nope.”

“Iverson set it to eight as of late since the championship’s coming up.” Was Keith’s response to the furrow in her brow.

“What the _hell_?”

Sure, extra practice was a must but that was just overkill. Four-thirty to seven would’ve been enough on its own.

But _eight_?

Was he _trying_ to kill the team before the game?

“Yeah.” Hunk affirmed with a nod. “Iverson’s gotten like, really paranoid.”

“Paranoid would be an understatement.” She grumbled.

“Damn straight.” Keith deadpanned. He flexed his wrist. “My arms still feel like they’re about to fall off.”

“How much more _me_?” Lance whined. “My legs still feel unattached to my body after all those extra kicking drills!”

“Maybe you wouldn’t have to do the extra drills if you didn’t mess up so much.” Keith deadpanned.

“I get it, I do cool stuff on the field and you couldn’t take it.”

Katie found herself falling back into the routine of droning out the two’s bickering as she finished the last of her lunch.

She took a cursory glance to her watch.

_**12:47** _

Aw shit.

She still had AP Physics at one o’clock and always made a note to show up a little earlier to snag the middle front seat before anyone else showed up. 

Sighing, Katie tossed her empty wrappers and bottles into the nearby trashcan and stood up, slinging her bag over her shoulder.

“I gotta go, AP Physics is calling me. Catch you guys later at practice.”

Hunk offered her a smile and nod. “See ya.”

Lance and Keith turned to her, argument momentarily forgotten.

“See ya, Pidge.”

“Yeah, catch you later.”

With a final wave she headed back into the hallways with a heavy sigh.

So.

Lance knew now.

And if Keith and Hunk had suspicions, she confirmed them five minutes ago.

Her best kept secret for the past two years spilled out just like that. 

She fought back a tired groan as she opened her locker and did a quick exchange of her morning sched binder for her big-ass Physics textbook before closing it with a loud slam.

Maybe it wasn’t all too bad.

It wasn’t like Lance was gonna blurt it out the second he saw Shiro, and Keith and Hunk never really made a show of their suspicions, so why would they do the same?

Plus, she didn’t have to bother with hiding it from them anymore. It kind of lightened up the weight in her chest now that she realized it.

 _Still though_ , the thought probed as she made her way up the stairs and into the right hallway.

There was still the underlying fact that _holy shit they knew_.

Katie had already made it really clear that her feelings for Shiro were a dangerous game on their own. Letting the others in on her own mess wouldn’t really help the cause. At all.

 _But then again_. 

Maybe they didn’t have to be involved at all?

Sure, they _knew_ , but that didn’t mean they actually had to do shit about it. It was her issue and hers alone, right?

 _Right_?

Katie sighed and shoved the thought and filed it under Think About It Later as she entered the classroom and sat herself down.

She still had a physics class to pay attention to, after all.


	2. You and Your Worn-out Jeans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **DISCLAIMER:** My knowledge of American Football is very limited. We don't actually have that sport in my country so I don't know much aside from a handful of terms, but I wanted to stay true to the song's MV as close as possible so this was the way to go. So please excuse any inaccuracies. I tried my hardest, ya'll.

**Lance: _@Pidge where are you_**

**Hunk: _bro I lost you in the halls you scare me_ **

**Lance: _we’re already headed for the lockers_**

**Lance: _you’re def short but you’re not that short that we wouldn’t be able to see you in the halls_**

**Lance: _@Keith have you seen her_ **

**Lance: _also where tf are_ you **

**Keith: _didn’t see her_ **

**Keith: _i’m still at the guidance counselor’s. give me like 5 minutes_**

**Lance: _fine_**

**Lance: _Pidge_**

**Lance: _Pidge_**

**Lance: _Pidge_**

**Allura: _if it’s worth anything, I saw her stop by the faculty office_ **

**Lance: _thanks allura <3 <3_ **

**Lance: _where are you right now_**

**Lance: _also where’s Shiro_**

**Allura: _I’m in the SC office then I’ll be off to the field_ **

**Allura: _idk where Shiro is_**

**Allura: _I thought he was with you_**

**Keith: *seen***

**Hunk: *seen***

**Pidge: _I’m on the way geez_ **

**Pidge: _and don’t think I didn’t notice_ **

**Pidge: _there will be payment in retribution_**

**Lance: _aww Pidge :((((((_**

**Lance: _also what’s that supposed to mean_ **

**Lance: _Pidge?_**

**Lance: _Pidge_**

**Pidge: *seen***

 

* * *

 

As planned, Katie found herself on the field after some consultations with Slav just before faculty office hours ended at quarter past four.

The sun was still up, though the temperature had already significantly dropped a few degrees.

Katie unrolled the sleeves of her sweater as she made her way near the benches where her friends were filling up their water bottles. The three of them didn’t have their pads on, and she deduced that they were all still probably about to start with warm-ups.

Keith was the first to notice her approach. “Hey Pidge.” He greeted.

The other two followed suit.

She gave them a wave as she set her bag on the bench closest to her to unzip it and grab her laptop.

“Footage?”

Keith quickly fished out the USB from the pocket of his shorts. “Here.” He said as he handed it over to her.

Katie sat herself down and quickly started up her laptop with one hand as the other grabbed the USB and plugged it in with practiced ease.

“It’s in the folder labeled _GALRA ASSHOLES_.” Keith said as he sat down beside her. She snorted as she clicked it.

“Which of their games do you have here?”

“All of this season’s and last.”

“Ah.” Katie clicked on the latest video labeled GALRA v TAUJEER SEMI FINALS. Hunk moved to stand behind her while Lance occupied her other side as the video buffered.

As soon as he sat down, she elbowed his ribs.

“Ow!”

Pidge grinned. “I said payment in retribution.”

She pointedly ignored his onslaught of grumbles to set the video to widescreen and skip to the middle of the game, putting her bag on the ground.

To call the Galra High Football Team brutal would be an understatement.

They were notorious for their rough play and for practically _annihilating_ their opponents every chance they got, and when they failed to do so they took their issues _off_ the field.

God knows why they hadn’t been disbanded yet.

They clearly broke enough rules for every member of their team to be suspended for at least a _month_ yet the most they got was a warning from the authorities.

Apparently, there was insufficient proof of their roughhousing to hold as grounds for disbandment.

Which was complete and utter _bullshit_ because Katie had all the proof she needed.

Matt had the broken leg to prove it. 

And so did Shiro with his arm. It was a miracle that he even recovered well enough to go back into football that fast. 

Whichever the case, the label Keith had on their folder was perfectly fitting.

They _were_ assholes.

And they were going _down_.

They weren’t going to win the championship, not if Katie could help it.

Her eyes were keen to follow every member of Galra’s defensive line, searching and scanning for any loopholes in their strategy.

She fought back a sigh.

Asshole-ness aside, Galra High was still pretty good on the field.

Katie clicked her tongue. “I can’t quite grasp their team dynamic.”

“Tell me about it.” Keith clipped, his eyes also very focused on her screen.

Katie turned to all the boys. “I’m gonna replay the last couple seconds, that cool?”

The three around her nodded.

“Go ahead.”

“We’ve already seen it like a hundred times.”

Katie took the liberty to rewind to the last couple seconds, keeping her eyes trained on their middle linebacker as he chased after one of Taujeer’s running backs.

 _Wait_.

It seemed familiar.

Rewind.

Then she clicked on another random game and moved around the time stamp until she found what she was looking for.

Katie grinned at the screen. “I think I got it.”

“Got what?” Hunk piped in. 

“Blitz play.” She said, turning behind her. “There’s always one in a Galra game.” 

A furrow started to form between Lance’s brows. “Pidge, there’s a blitz play in a lot of football games.”

“Yeah but look here,” she restored down and resized the two video windows so they were side by side and rewound both back to the respective parts she remembered. “They put a lot of effort into inducing it.”

She played the two videos simultaneously. The startling similarity between the two videos was enough to make the boys lean in closer.  

“The only reason why you can’t get through their defensive line is because they make up for lack of defense with fast plays.” Keith realized, his eyes narrowing. 

“It’s like they _know_ where you’ll move next.” Pidge added, then paused both clips.

At this, the boys leaned back to give her some room.

“So what are we supposed to do? Do what they least expect? Kick Keith out of the team?”

Katie didn’t miss the way Keith scowled at Lance from the corner of her eye.

“No, it has nothing to do with Keith.” She paused to select the GALRA ASSHOLES folder to copy and paste it onto her desktop. “Like any other team they’re still basing off the quarterback.”

“But?” Hunk prodded. “There’s a _but_ in there, right?”

“I was getting there, Hunk.” She grinned at her friend. “Okay, anyways, here’s the thing: we know that Galra is constantly forcing a blitz play and that their defenses aren’t as good as we think they are.”  

“We just have to figure out what factors lead them into inducing the blitz play.” Keith finished for her.

“Yes, exactly.”

Her laptop let out a beep, signaling that the folder was done copying on her documents. Quickly, she checked the folder before closing the video windows and ejecting Keith’s USB.

“So until we figure that out, you just gotta up the usual strategies. Know all the pressure zones, polish up on your drills, all that. Here,” she said, handing the drive to Keith as she saved her open documents and readies her desktop to be closed.

Pidge didn’t miss the way Keith furrowed his brows. “I don’t get why you don’t just _join_ the team.” He said, pocketing his USB. “We need your head for strategy.”

She turned to him after shutting down her laptop. “Iverson still has a bone to pick with me after Matt’s injury.”

From behind her, Hunk said. “That was like _years_ ago.”

“Then I still have a bone to pick with him.” She said, reaching for her backpack.

Lance nudged her side with his elbow as she put her laptop back in her bag. “Dude, move on.”

She all but scowled as she turned to him. “He still blames Matt for what happened.” 

“You sure this is about Matt? When I was there you only lashed out when he started blaming Shiro as well.” Keith countered.

 _Son of a bitch_.

Keith was still a perceptive ass.

An ass for sure, but still perceptive no less. And as much as Katie wanted to deny it, he was right.

“Your point?” she asked, turning to him. 

“You need to forgive and forget.”

“Both are impossible.”

Keith elbowed her other side. “You definitely know how to hold a grudge.”

Pidge gave him her usual crooked smile. “It’s part of the Holt Family stubbornness.”

“Nope that’s all you.” A new voice came in.

The four of them turned to the source.

“Shiro!”

“Yo!”

“Hey,” he greeted as he walked over to them. Behind him, she noticed that the rest of the football team had yet to assemble on the field, leaving them with at least a couple of minutes to hang out before they’d actually start doing warm-ups.

“Hey,” Katie tried her best to not let the smile forming on her face grow anymore.

The effort was soon given up when Shiro offered her a grin and stopped to stand directly in front of her. “We still up for Sunday?”

“Wait, what’s on Sunday?” came Hunk’s voice from behind her.

Katie turned up her nose and met his gaze upside down. “Power through Finals at my place?”

He nodded as booped her nose, the action making her crinkle her face in a small laugh. “Sounds good.”

“Yeah but we’re not sure if we can make it.” Lance lamented. 

“Aw, for real?” she tilted her chin back down to face her lanky friend. 

“Same here.”

Katie quickly turned to her other side at Keith’s voice.

“Why are all of you still working shifts during Finals season?” she asked to no one in particular.

And now she was getting a little vertigo from all the head spinning. Nice.

Hunk lifted his hands up in defense. “Hey, between juggling academics with football we’re all trying our hardest to make it all work. So the answer is a definite _maybe_.” He put his hands back down.  “And like, I feel kinda bad asking Sal for a day off when we legit just told him last Friday we could only work on weekends.” 

Lance nudged her side again. “And not everyone got a scholarship to multiple colleges, Pidge. A little extra cash would be helpful.”

“I still haven’t gotten my letter back from MIT so hold your breath.” She nudged him back before dropping her arm to her lap. “And aren’t you the four of you eligible for a sports scholarship?” the question was couple with another round of head-turning as she asked all her boys.

 _Her boys._  

She definitely liked the sound of that.

At first it used to be a slip of the tongue but over time she realized the two words put together couldn’t have fit better. 

“ _Legible_ but not _sure_ ,” Shiro affirmed. “We decided we weren’t so keen on riding everything on us being student athletes.”

Katie nodded. “Good call then. When did you decide on that?” 

“Last Friday at practice,” Keith answered.

That would explain why this was news to her. Katie had been instructed to go home early that day when her father announced he would be bringing Matt with him to the lab for overtime and her mother said she had to stay over at Aunt Peggy’s, essentially leaving her home alone.

That was at least before Shiro showed up.

Quickly, she shoved the memory away.

“The one time I couldn’t make it you guys make big decisions and go a whole week without telling me.” She mockingly put her hand over her chest. “I feel kinda betrayed.” 

“We were gonna tell you.” Hunk defended.

“I kid, I kid.” Katie took her hand off her heart to raise it with her other in guilty mock surrender. She set her hands back on her lap and folded her legs under to sit Indian-style, setting her knees across Keith’s and Lance’s laps. “Did you start with your applications at least?”

She watched as Hunk side-stepped to straddle the bench in the spot behind Lance. “Yeah, I applied to a couple of places.”

“Is MIT with me back on your list?”

Hunk nodded. “Yeah. I applied to a couple of state universities too if ever.”

“Same here,” Lance said, clapping her knee. “There aren’t a lot of piloting schools nearby aside from Garrison so I figured I should have a safety or two.”

Katie couldn’t help but smile. She remembered Lance never shutting up about getting into flying school and becoming a pilot to travel the world.

Now they were months away from the next step towards that and it all just felt so _surreal_.

How fast time flew, huh?

“Have you sent them in?”

Lance shook his head. “I’m actually gonna send mine along with Hunk. He’s applying for aeronautical engineering at Garrison so we’re gonna do it together tomorrow.”

“Nice. Keith?” she turned to her other side.

The boy in question only rested his forearm on her thigh. “I’m not sure if I’ll go to college right away.”

At this, Katie cocked her head to the side. “You’re planning to take a year off?”

“A year, two, three, yeah.” He was pointedly avoiding Shiro’s stare.  

“Are you still gonna hunt for cryptids?”

“Like you wouldn’t be doing that over the summer?” 

“I’ve been doing that over the summer for the past couple of _years_.”

At this, Lance and Hunk let out a groan that could only be translated as _don’t remind me_.

Shiro only crossed his arms and shook his head. “You two _really_ need better outdoor hobbies.”

“It was either this or the knives, Shiro.”

“Or the hermit life for me!”

Katie exchanged a brief look with Keith.

And then they shared a high-five and a grin. 

A collective yell made everyone turn their attention to the other side of the field.

All eyes then turned to the source: the cheerleaders letting out well, _cheers_ as they appeared to have successfully formed another death-defying pyramid.

At the very top of course was Allura, who somehow managed to maintain a perfect split a good thirty feet off the air. From where they sat (or stood, in Shiro’s case), they barely heard Coach Montgomery bark a few orders at the squad before they began to dismantle the human tower. 

“Allura told me she had her eyes set on Duke.” Lance’s voice broke in and made everyone turn back to the conversation.

Katie couldn’t help but scrunch up her face in confusion. “Really? I thought she was going to Harvard Pre-Law?”

Keith mirrored the gesture as he faced her and Lance. “Wait, she told me just applied for Brown?”

“I dunno about you guys but I could’ve sworn she told me she was waiting for a letter from Yale.” Hunk looked just about as confused.

“Actually she sent letters for all four.”

The four of them turned to Shiro who all but smiled proudly at the revelation. 

There was a brief moment of stunned silence.

And then Lance let out a low whistle.

“I should consider applying there too. Talk about aiming high.”

“No, Lance.” Keith rolled his eyes.  “And no kidding.”

“Four Ivy League schools, huh?” Hunk mused out loud.

“I’d be surprised if she didn’t apply for all eight of them.” Pidge pushed up her glasses.

“She told me she was considering it.” Shiro said.

“And I haven’t heard back from any of them.” Yet another new voice piped in from behind him.

 Pidge tried her best to ignore the grin that started to form on Shiro’s face as he turned to face his girlfriend. “And speak of the devil.”

Allura offered a wave. “Hey you guys.”

She was responded with a collective greeting. Katie immediately averted her eyes for the split second it took Shiro and Allura exchange a kiss to the cheek.

“Haven’t seen you around, Pretty Lady.” Lance winked.

Everyone rolled their eyes at the nickname.

Allura was already well adjusted to Lance that she didn’t even blink. “I’ve been busy. I’m still in the middle of canvassing for prom, after all.”

“In need of an escort?”

“No, Lance.” Hunk lightly scolded his best friend with a pat to the shoulder.

Allura didn’t even bother acknowledging the question. Katie could’ve sworn she almost jumped out of her skin when Allura turned to her. 

“Which reminds me, Pidge, have you gone dress shopping already?”

“Umm no?”

“Perfect, how does Saturday sound?”

She felt herself blanch. “ _This_ Saturday?”

“Next. That’ll be the only time I’m free before Finals. Would that be alright?”

Of course it was alright.

Nothing screamed out friendship goals more than going dress shopping with your best friend’s girlfriend, right?

(Except maybe the startling fact that Katie would give anything to be in said girlfriend’s shoes but oh well.)

Whichever the case, Pidge found herself nodding. “Sounds good to me.”

The answer seemed to have triggered a moment of unspoken feminine bonding in the form of silent agreement.

.

.

.

Which was then broken by Lance.

.

.

.

“Can I tag along?”

Everyone said in unison.

“ _No, Lance.”_

There was another beat of silence as Lance deflated on the bench.

.

.

.

Two.

.

.

.

Three beats of silence.

.

.

.

And then Katie let out a snort.

.

.

.

This was soon followed by Hunk pressing a fist to his mouth, his shoulders shaking.

.

.

.

And then the six of them just burst out in laughter.

 

* * *

 

Katie ended up watching a solid hour of their practices before deciding to go home before it got too dark.

And by watching she really meant low-key yelling from the bleachers what they were doing wrong, much to Coach Iverson’s chagrin.

.

.

.

_“The power of the kick won’t matter if you keep missing, Lance!”_

_“Shut up, I’m the sharpshooter! That’s my thing!”_

_“Since when?!”_

_._

_._

_._

_“Keith try running in different directions. The Galra are fast but you’re smaller than them so you can beat them with agility.”_

_“Noted.”_

_._

_._

_._

_“Hunk, that’s a tackling dummy, not a door! You gotta be more aggressive than that!”_

_“You know I don’t do aggression!”_

_“Well you have to now!”_

_“Ugh!”_

_._

_._

_._

The rest of the team only seemed amused, and so did her boys.

(Except maybe for Lance when he gave her a cleverly hidden middle finger. She all but stuck her tongue out in retaliation.)

So Pidge figured she should at least wait for them (and maybe even Allura) to go on a water break before actually leaving so that she could say goodbye. Standard procedure. 

As soon as the crowd dispersed, Katie stood up and put on her bag before looking around for her friends.

As if on cue, she spotted Keith, Hunk and Lance walking toward her. 

“You leaving?” Hunk asked as soon as they got close enough.

Pidge tried her best to hide her disappointment. Shiro wasn’t with them.

Of course. He was just busy. Right.

And as if knowing the unasked question, Lance said, “Shiro’s still talking with Iverson.” He jammed his thumb over to where Shiro was still in deep conversation with their coach. 

“About what?”

Lance shrugged. “Beats me.”

“You can go on ahead.” Keith nodded to the general direction of the exit. “I’ll tell him for you.”  

For a second Katie was about to refuse the offer. How much more was a couple more minutes for him, right?

Not like her parents would storm the school, looking for her.

The thought was soon erased when she spared Shiro another glance.

The discussion he was having with Iverson.

It seemed important.

Really important.  

It’ll probably be a bit of a while before he’ll be able to pull away from that.

And knowing her, she’ll just end up rambling about another topic before actually leaving, which would just render her unable to leave before it got dark.  

It was only a couple minutes. Shiro would understand.

This wasn’t the first time she had to leave without saying goodbye and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.

Pidge shook her head before giving Keith a grateful nod. “Thanks. I’ll see you guys.” She gave them a wave before walking away.

The boys waved back.

“Take care!”

“See you tomorrow!”

“Bye.” 

Katie let out a sigh as soon as she was far enough from the field that the noise that came from there was reduced to an airy echo. Around her, the air was still a little chilly and nipped at her nose, but nothing too bad. She adjusted the straps of her backpack as she neared the school gate.

“A bit too late to be walking alone, don’t you think?”

“Gah!” she yelped at the sudden presence beside her. Katie had spazzed out into a defensive position, one foot in front of the other as her arms haphazardly stuck out in the air in front of her.  

“Oh, didn’t see you there, Coran.” She put her arms down and returned to a normal standing position.

Her teacher only grinned as he jumped off the school statue’s pedestal. “Good to see you, Number Five.”

Coran was Altea’s Assistant Principal and the Head of Student Affairs. He was an efficient man who took his work seriously but did so with a warm smile, along with a penchant for wandering around the halls and mingling with students and teachers alike.

If anything, the smooth transactions amongst the school clubs and departments were all his doing.

She smiled as she continued her pace.

“Not with Shiro?” he asked, falling into step behind her.

Katie shook her head. “What makes you ask that?”

“You two are usually seen together. More so than Shiro’s ever been seen with Allura.”  

“We’re best friends.” She clarified, albeit a little stiff. “Along with Keith, Hunk and Lance. The four of them still have football practice until eight.”

Coran nodded. “Ah yes. I almost forgot about that. Would’ve preferred if they didn’t end practice so late but I suppose it’s all for the championship game. Same goes for Allura with all her activities.” Pidge chose to remain silent as they approached the street.  

“You know, if I hadn’t known that Shiro was dating my niece, I’d have thought you two would’ve gotten together.”

_I sometimes think the same way too._

She immediately shook the thought away and faked a chuckle. “I don’t think so. I’ll see you tomorrow, Coran. I need to hurry if I want to make it to the bus on time.”

She didn’t bother waiting for the older man’s reply before dashing across the street.

 

* * *

 

Pidge paused to catch her breath as soon as she reached the bus stop’s waiting shed in record time.

Needing to hurry to catch her bus was obviously a lie considering the next one won’t arrive for like another fifteen minutes. Ditching Coran did make her feel a little guilty but she just couldn’t fight the need to escape at his words. 

_If I hadn’t known that Shiro was dating my niece, I’d have thought you two would’ve gotten together._

She fought back a scoff as she flopped on the bench.

 _If only it were that easy, huh?_ She sighed again. 

With fifteen minutes left to kill, Katie pulled out her phone from her pocket and turned it on.

.

.

.

Barely a minute even passed when it suddenly vibrated in her hands with a new message.

.

.

.

**Shiro: _keith told me you left. hope you got home safe._**

.

.

.

_Damn him._

.

.

.

The curse only contradicted the smile that had begun to form on her face as she typed in her reply.

 

* * *

 

**Hunk: _its official_ **

**Pidge: _what’s official_**

**Hunk: _finals is gonna crucify me_ **

**Pidge _: it’s gonna kill all of us_ **

**Pidge: _at least try not to have so much on your plate_ **

**Hunk: _i’m trying_**

**Hunk: _but between slav’s final project and football, i haven’t gotten the time to ask Sal if Lance and I could have the month and a half off_ **

**Pidge: _when are you gonna ask him then? everything’s piling up and shit_**

**Hunk: _this Sunday on our shift_**

**Pidge: _so you guys really can’t make it then :(_ **

**Hunk: _nope. sorry bro_. **

**Hunk: _at least you can enjoy your sweet alone time with shiro ;)_**

**Pidge: _I will kill you in your sleep_**

 

* * *

 

**Pidge: _Keith_ **

**Keith: _what_ **

**Pidge: _are you sure you’re busy on Sunday_ **

**Keith: _yeah. sorry._**

**Pidge: _ok_. **

**Keith: _you go have fun with Shiro_ **

**Pidge: _*seen*_**

* * *

 

It was in the quiet moments that Katie usually noticed the most.

As the introverted techie she was, the rest of the world just blurred into a mess of noise and chaos that she couldn’t get a read on everything as well as she would’ve normally preferred. She would get the basic rundown, but that was it. All bones and skin and no meat.

And this peeved her to no end.

In the quiet she was at ease. Content, even. It was only then that she can finally take a moment to just appreciate what was around her, and religiously commit the feeling to memory.

Like right now, for example.

She and Shiro were currently in their living room, just the two of them once more since Matt had to go to a friend’s house for a group project and Sam and Colleen were out visiting her grandparents. Which were circumstances she was actually kinda thankful for, Katie mused, considering the mess they had made in the hours they had been working.

It was Sunday afternoon and the both of them were elbow-deep in their mandatory shit-ton projects due later that week, all from major subjects and worth fifty percent of their final grades for the semester and in brutal honesty, the nearest dumpster looked more presentable compared to the living room floor at the moment; papers scattered all over the floor, a pile of tools with cans of lubricant were shoved into the far corner and not to mention the questionable amount of Redbull cans that littered just about _everywhere._  

Katie was in the middle of her own mess, sitting Indian-style and surrounded by open books and worksheets haphazardly stacked into a binder and marked _do later_ as she typed in her AP Lit term paper on her laptop.

Hashtag student life.

Katie breathed out a sigh after typing in the second paragraph and looked back at her notes.

She still had a couple major points to bring out and defend, then the ending conclusion paragraph, and then edit before _finally_ printing the bastard out. She sighed again before looking up, right where Shiro had settled himself on their couch.

It took every nerve in her body to fight back a smile.

He was also on his laptop, but his typing was at a quieter pace, gentler and more relaxed compared to the angry and rushed noise of clicking she made. In fact, Shiro himself looked more relaxed than she was despite having more work than she did.

He was in his favorite pair of jeans, the denim already worn out from overuse, along with a black shirt Katie figured he’s had since his freshman year. 

It was kind of unfair how Shiro could make even jeans and a shirt look good.

Meanwhile Katie barely even felt presentable in her ratty hoodie and shorts. She reached behind her to tug on the short tail that kept her hair together, out of insecurity more anything else. She let out another heavy sigh.

And as if sensing her distress, Shiro looked up from his work. “You doing okay?”

Katie nodded. “Yeah.” She tugged the back of her hair again before adding, “Just wondering why the school had to insist that I take the full AP sched when I’m already a year ahead.”

She looked down to glare at the word document in front of her, almost hoping she could will the rest of the term paper into existence with just her eyes.

“Well, you’re brilliant. Pretty sure the school just wanted to remind you of that.”

A smile slowly graced its way to her lips, eyes softening as she shook her head.

Leave it to Shiro to be her personal cheerleader.

“Okay, okay.” she said looking up to meet his gaze. “Holt Prodigy and all that.”

Shiro nodded with a grin, then moved a couple cushions aside. Katie stared quizzically before he patted the now empty seat beside him.

His silent invitation for her to sit beside him.

She hesitated.

They were best friends. That was a given. Close contact shouldn’t really be an issue.

Unless of course one of them happened to be taken.

Then again…Shiro had been the one to invite her, so she wasn’t overstepping any boundaries, right?

They’d done this a lot of times, right?

Right?

(Overthinking would get her nowhere.)

Throwing caution to the wind, Katie slowly stood up, carefully lifting her laptop along with her. She was careful not to step on any of her precious books or stray tools on her way to the couch, and as soon as she was within the proper distance she gracelessly flopped on the cushions, making the seat under her bounce.

A chuckle escaped Shiro’s lips.

“Yeah, yeah.” Katie mumbled as she folded her legs under her, shifting around so her back met the armrest.

“How’s the term paper going?” 

“Could be better.” She replied, turning to him. She looked back down and clicked her tongue at the sight of a typo.

How did she even miss that? Ugh.

“Elaborate.”

Katie briefly lifted her head up. “I can’t write a thousand words on _The Secret History_ for shit.” was her dry response before she looked back down at her screen to correct another error.  A lock of hair managed to escape her ponytail but she was too engrossed in her typing to bother until she felt a hand reach forward and brush it back for her.

And just like that, her typing ceased.

“Shiro?” 

At first he was silent, just keeping his eyes on her profile. Watching her carefully.

This is was dangerous. _He_ was dangerous. How is he not, with the way he was looking at her right now with so much intensity she felt nothing but naked? With his fingers still barely brushing her cheek, leaving the skin to burn from within for ages to come? 

She wanted to reach up and take his hand in hers. Or maybe push it away. Or even just lean in to kiss him. Anything.

Anything but just gawk at him like the weirdo she knew she was.

Her pulse thrummed violently against her ears. This wasn’t fair.

This was so, so unfair.

And finally, _finally_ , he broke the silence.

“Don’t stress yourself too much.” His fingers curled a little against the side of her neck before he pulled away.

“You’ll do great. I know you will.” 

Then suddenly he smiled, and all thoughts about annoying typos and half-finished worksheets were gone, just like that. 

It took half of her nerves for her to smile back, and the other half to manage a respectable thank you in response before he turned back to his laptop.

And as she watched Shiro’s every move, took note of every crinkle in the corner of his eyes and recalled every word he had ever said to her…in that moment Katie realized just how deeply, desperately and pathetically in love she was with Takashi Shirogane.

.

.

.

~~And the fact that this was most definitely _not_ going to end well for either of them. ~~

.

.

. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to [hypatheticallyspeaking](http://archiveofourown.org/users/hypatheticallyspeaking/profile) for beta reading this chapter and my painful cluelessness when it comes to American Football.


	3. A Smile That Could Light Up This Whole Town

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **DISCLAIMER:** While I put a lot of effort into researching how the US High School System works, especially with subjects, I can't guarantee perfect accuracy so pls take my attempts with a grain of salt. 
> 
> Also, here's a [vid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6631u7d4E0) of the chem experiment done near the end of the story. Chemistry is amazing, ya'll. 
> 
> Anyways, on to the story!

“Hand me another spool of solder.” Katie muttered, outstretching her right hand while her dominant was still preoccupied connecting a wire to another on her circuit board.

Third period MWF meant Slav’s Robotics Elective and if Katie had to be honest she had to credit the school for the good call regarding her schedule. 

The period itself was a little far from lunch or any other of her scheduled free time so she didn’t find the need to rush her work in excitement or hunger, and it was usually around this time in the morning that Pidge had already long shaken off the grogginess she would usually try to blink through during first and second periods.

Hunk fought back a yawn as he complied her request, handing her the spool with one hand while the other palm was pressed over his mouth to suppress the sound.

 _But then again_.

Today was still Monday and just about any time on a Monday would be too early for Pidge to deal with Professor Slav’s fast-paced lectures and scrutinizing eye as she worked on the most vital parts of her final project.

Or just too damn early for anyone to deal with _anything_.

Hurray, student life, am I right?

Stifling back her own yawn, Katie shook her head as she unspooled some silver and grabbed her soldering iron.

In contrast to everyone else, Katie usually found refuge in the blank state of mind that came with working on anything technological. Nothing was left to the abstract and every little detail was mechanical and structured.

Pun intended.

Each little screw had its corresponding place, every line of code had its function in the overall script and everything they did in the free time as soon as Professor Slav finished up his lectures had an impact on the finished product and in turn their final grade.

Everything just made perfect, undisputable sense.

Thus, the clean-cut of it all was a comfort for an overworked mind like Katie’s. (Accelerated year, full AP sched and in love with her taken best friend. _Very_ overworked.)

So the organized methods of robotics and tech were a simple joy in life that she could always to count on and turn back to.

.

.

.

However, today seemed to be an exception.

.

.

.

“So I have a hypothesis.” Hunk started from beside her.

A rather stark one, too.

“About what?” Pidge asked distractedly, watching as the silver melted onto the board and fused the wires together.

“About you and Shiro.”

She turned to face her friend so fast she felt the most miniscule ghost of a crack in her joint as it ached in protest to the sudden reaction.

A small price to pay if it meant Hunk would cower in fear at the scowl already in position on her face.  

It didn’t seem to work.

Hunk only blinked in response.

(Since when did her scowls and glares stop working? Ugh.)

Pidge narrowed her eyes. “You already know why that will never happen and her name and face are plastered all over the school along with his.”

 _The perks of being in love with one half of the school’s It Couple_ , she thought dryly. 

“Actually, it has nothing to do with that.”

“Huh?”

Hunk raised his hands up, almost as if trying to calm her down before she snapped at him again.

“Look, just hear me out.”

Which was kind of a futile effort considering Pidge wasn’t really mad or on the verge of snapping at all and was just plain _confused._    

“Fine.” She muttered as she turned back to soldering. Figures she could just listen to him while she worked.

The wires won’t connect themselves, dammit.

“So about this hypothesis, well actually it’s more of a theory.” Hunk started.

“What kind of theory are we talking about?” Katie snorted. “Einstein’s Theory of Relativity with actual math to back it up or purely hypothetical Schrodinger’s Multiverse Theory that’ll end up with me thinking you’re a lunatic?”

“Somewhere in between. Like, I _kinda_ have some proof but at the same time you’ll probably end up debunking me.” Hunk supplied. “Also, if you wanna hear someone ramble about infinite realities you should just go ask Professor Slav.”

Katie let out another snort which soon dissolved into a small chuckle.

Well.

That seemed to have cleared the air a bit. She unspooled a little more solder as she turned to Hunk.

“Okay. Go on?”

“Do you remember what I was like when I first realized I liked Shay?”

Despite the irritation that throbbed at her temples, nothing could suppress the smile that started to pull at the corners of Katie’s mouth.  “Who didn’t?”

Shay was a girl from another school he met during one of Altea’s away games at the start of the school year. Hunk had gone against her brother, Rax, on the field, and had met the two again when they went to watch another one of their away games.

The connection between Hunk and Shay had been instant when she and her brother stepped down from the stands to congratulate Hunk for Altea’s win.  

Since then Hunk had been nothing but a nervous wreck whenever she was around. Add that to the fact that Shay and Rax were avid football fans and well…

Let’s just say there was one time Hunk got so nervous at the prospect of Shay watching him that it almost cost Altea the game.

Shay, on the other hand, was all smiles and friendly cheering from the bleachers and nothing short of lovely whenever she went down to congratulate Hunk and the rest of the team.

It didn’t take much for everyone to figure out that they liked each other.

And that they had it really, _really_ bad.  

Katie had to admit that it was all pretty entertaining to watch; the whole ordeal just gave her more fodder to tease Hunk with and just seeing the two of them interact made her feel all warm and bubbly inside from how adorable they were being.

Of course, that lasted for a solid three months until it started from being adorable to being irritating to no end _because why didn’t they just get together already for fuck’s sake._  

From her peripheral vision, Katie didn’t miss the small, fond smile that started to form on Hunk’s face as well. Becoming official with Shay did wonders for his happiness nowadays, and she couldn’t be more thankful.

“You were more nervous than usual every time you saw her.” She said, eyes and hands still trained on the board and iron. “Like you had irritable bowel syndrome and you were gonna throw up every five seconds before every game.”

 “But it was obvious that I liked her, right?”

The sudden, almost impatient interjection made Pidge look up from her work. “Yeah?”

 “And you guys kept prodding me saying that she liked me back too?”

“No duh.” She turned her attention back to the circuit board as the iron and solder came into contact, and she watched as the silver melted the loose copper wires onto the chip. After checking it if it was securely attached, Katie moved to thoroughly wipe the tip of the iron on its designated sponge by its holster. “And you dorks took forever to get together.” She looked back up at him for a brief moment. “What was up with that?”

Hunk was still focused on positioning a screw before he answered. “Well, I didn’t really believe you guys when you said she felt the same way. But then I thought,” he paused to tighten a screw a little more securely. “What if she did, though? And like, what if I actually told her how I felt and stuff like that.”

Katie furrowed a brow at him. “What exactly are you getting at?”

“I’m getting there.” He let out a small grumble about tiny metallic parts and big hands as he tightened another screw. “Now where was I?”

“What if you told her how you felt.” Pidge supplied without missing a beat.

“Okay. So.” He moved to grab something from his toolbox.  “I had a serious crush on her for like most of the first semester, yeah?” Hunk rummaged around, picked up a random screw then put it back down to get the right one.

An action that Pidge found unfitting for him considering his organizational skills with regards to his toolbox were up to par with hers. 

That only meant he was buying time for himself.

“Truth was I had been planning to ask her out since midterms that time.”

She felt her eyes widen at the revelation. “But you didn’t start going out until before winter break!”

“Yeah, but do you know why?”

Katie thought for a moment.

Oh.

Wow.

She was actually coming up at a blank.

Noting this, Hunk was ever quick to answer.

“It was because of her brother.”

.

.

.

Wait.

.

.

.

_Huh?_

“Wait, seriously?” Pidge holstered back her iron before turning to him. “But I thought you and Rax were already good friends way before then?”

“That was the thing!” Hunk lifted his screwdriver to emphasize his point. “I knew I liked Shay, and I also kinda felt that she liked me back too, but I also knew that I’d feel guilty if I asked her out behind her brother’s back.”

“But you didn’t ask her behind his back. You actually asked permission from Rax and everything.”

“Why else do you think I took so long? I had to gather my guts and talk to Rax like a man and _that’s_ what took forever, Pidge.” One by one the little gears in Katie’s head started to turn, processing what exactly it was that Hunk was trying to tell her.

No.

That wasn’t possible.

Right?

Hunk didn’t seem to notice her inner panic. “Not seeing if I liked her or if she liked me back or waiting for the right time. I needed time to ask permission from Rax and hopefully not ruin the friendship I had with the guy just because I liked his sister.”

“Hunk…” she let out a shaky breath. “You can’t possibly mean…”

No.

There was no way.

Right?

_Right?_

“Tell me, Pidge. What’s the difference between me and Shiro?”

That somehow managed to break her out of her state of alarm. “Huh?”

“A lot of people say that Shiro and I are alike but I know that head of yours can pinpoint the differences between us.” He gestured with his hands as a sign to let her talk.

“Well,” she took a moment to clear her thoughts. “You both are kind and caring, that’s a given.” She paused again to push her glasses up her nose. “But you’re more of a people person. While both of you are friendly, Shiro’s a little more introverted. Not as lone wolfish as Keith but still an introvert. Or ambivert, if you prefer.”

He didn’t seem satisfied with her answer. “Okay, what else?”

“There’s also a difference in how you two think on the field.” Her hands busied themselves by fiddling with the solder spool. “You learn more from experience, or at least you remember small details really well, and that’s what makes you dependable as his fullback. Shiro prefers learning from facts, or at least looking at possibilities from what he reads in between the lines.” She let out an exasperated sigh. “Hunk, please tell me where this is going?”

“You said Shiro prefers learning from in between the lines rather than the whole picture. So if he were in my situation, how exactly would he deal with it?”

“Hunk,” she tried making it come off as a warning but instead it came off as a small plea to not feed the traitorous train of thought any further.

No.

No point in giving life to the hopes that grew steadily in her chest.

.

.

.

Those should have been buried deep into the back of her mind along with the rest of her more wistful thoughts. 

.

.

.

But what if, though?

Her mind let the train of thought pass for a short moment.

Shiro?

 _Liking_ her?

But not doing anything because of _Matt_?

Katie shook her head and shoved the thought as quickly as she entertained it, letting out an internal curse at how her heart leaped excitedly at the mere idea of it all.

Hunk must’ve noticed as much. “Hypothetically speaking then.”

“Fine. _Hypothetically_ ,” she started, then opted to jump back into work to reposition the board with one hand as the other placed the spool beside it. “Shiro wouldn’t want to act on the feelings right away unless he was totally sure of them.”

“Okay, what else?”

Once her other hand was free she reached for the soldering iron and tried to get back to work.

“ _Hypothetically_ he would be extra cautious with everything he did around the person he liked because he wouldn’t want them to know, all the more said person’s brother.” She said, not once lifting her gaze from her work.   

“Try changing certain key factors to suit his current situation.”

“And by that you mean?”

“ _Hypothetically_ , Shiro likes _you_. But also, hypothetically, he feels like he’d be betraying Matt if he tried anything. So - hypothetically speaking - Shiro has been hiding feelings from you for a while but holding back for Matt’s sake.”

She should really stop reacting so violently every time someone brought up the prospect of her and Shiro.

Last time she dashed away from Coran and risked getting run over by a car on her way to the bus stop.

 And before that, she choked on her own drink and launched herself into a coughing fit.

This time she flinched in the middle of wiring her circuit board and ended up splattering molten solder over one of her fingers.

“Ah!”

The yelp she let out caught the attention of the people around them.

All except Professor Slav’s as he drilled a particular student for his circuitry work.

The sting of the burn wasn’t anything all too painful, but it was still a startling jolt of heat that went up her spine and made her receptors go haywire.

Quickly, Pidge retracted her hand away and flexed her wrist back and forth in a fanning motion, then blowing on her burnt finger with her mouth before taking the moment to throw Hunk a glare.

“ _Dude_.”

“Sorry, sorry.” He reached into his pocket and produced a small sachet of band-aids.

If Pidge hadn’t been so preoccupied with how her finger was stinging like a bitch she would’ve made a dry comment about how much of a mom friend Hunk was.

Silently he ripped one off and opened it. “Here,”

Katie wordlessly stuck her finger out.

Sighing, Hunk tore open the packaging and quickly bandaged her burn. “You have to consider the idea, at least.”

At this, Katie shook her head and pulled her hand back. “It’s all hypothetical, Hunk. You said so yourself.” Another shake of her head before she turned back to her work station. “It’s just a theory.” She put the soldering iron back in its proper holster before it could burn a hole through the table and picked up the spool and wires once more. 

Katie could practically _feel_ Hunk watching her every move.

Sighing, she turned back to him. 

“Just…where exactly does Allura fit in that theory then, huh? _Look_ at her and Shiro whenever they’re together in the halls and tell me - _straight in my face_ \- that your _theory_ is still applicable.”

The way the concerned look on Hunk’s face had dropped to a small frown stabbed a pang of guilt somewhere in between Katie’s ribs.

“Sorry, just,” she shook her head. “Can we just get back to work? Professor Slav would be checking on our progress any time now.”

Her friend did that thing where he would furrow his brows and purse his lips, the kind of look he made whenever he was particularly distraught and trying not to show it or whenever he was just really deep in thought.

Slowly, Hunk nodded. “Alright then.”

What struck Katie odd was how he had gone down right away.

Hunk may have been the kindest soul she had ever met, but he always believed in his ideas with conviction.

No matter how stupid or unrealistic or _hypothetical_ they were.

Hesitantly, she stepped forward to put her hand on Hunk’s arm. “I’m still open to your theory, Hunk.” At the words, he seemed to have perked up. “Just not _now_.” She added quickly.  

“So tomorrow?”

“Hunk.”

“I get it, just kidding.” He gave her a hopeful smile as she took her hand off him. “But someday.”

She nodded. “Yes, someday. Probably.”

“Someday Probably.” Hunk put a hand to his chin as if mulling over the thought. “Alright then.” He booped her nose before turning back to his work with a smile.

Katie wrinkled her nose at the contact before shaking her head with a smile of her own.

And as she turned back to her soldering iron and work station, the thought couldn’t help but shove its way into her mind, telling her that she would regret promising Hunk Someday Probably.

Telling her that she should’ve just flat-out said _Never_ instead.  

But like with any other intrusive thought she had for the past couple minutes, Katie had to push the thought back for the time being as she dived back into work in double time. 

The wires won’t connect themselves, after all.

* * *

 

**Lance: _Pidge_**

**Lance: _Pidge_**

**Lance: _Pidge_**

Katie rolled her eyes as she retrieved her phone from her pocket before it could vibrate a hole through her jeans.

She gave cursory look to the teacher before her.

Ms. Harris still had her head down as she leafed through class sheets and quizzes. Had been like that for the past half hour.

If anything, she was pretty preoccupied.

But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to sense a disturbance in her class and promptly look up from her desk in warning.

Quick as she could, Pidge typed in her reply.

**Pidge: _what_ **

Half a minute passed.

**Lance: _I’m bored_ **

Katie turned to the seat beside her and met Lance’s expectant gaze with her usual scowl.

She lifted her hands up in question.

_What do you expect me to do?_

Her friend shrugged.

_I dunno._

They held a silent staring contest before ultimately Katie rolled her eyes once more and decided to turn back to the open laptop on her desk and the almost-finished word doc on the screen.

Ms. Harris may have given today’s Tuesday AP World History session for free time but said time was supposed to be used for revising the final project. 

Not for…well, _other stuff_.

Katie still had a ten-page thesis-based research paper on Alan Turing to finish writing and editing, thank you very much.

Quickly, she got her hands on the keyboard, scrolling down the lines of text until she got to the part she specifically highlighted for revision. Her fingers were even faster as they typed in.

_…after the events of the Second World War. Turing was a shining light in a time when-_

And then there was another vibration from her phone.

But this time it was against the hard wood of her desk instead of in her jeans.

With a stifled groan, she turned to Lance once before turning on her phone.

**Pidge: _don’t you have your final project to finish?_**

**Lance: _yeah, the timeline_**

**Lance: _but I’ve been working nonstop for the past half hour pidge_**

At this, Pidge turned back to Lance, who all but helplessly gestured to the mess on his desk and offered an apologetic smile. She lifted a hand up in apology.

_Sorry, man._

Lance shook his head.

 _Nah it’s alright._  

He gestured with the hand still holding onto his phone. Pidge nodded when she got the message and turned back to it, waiting for his next text.

**Lance: _also_ **

**Lance: _Hunk and I can make it on sunday for hell week grinding_ **

At this, Pidge excitedly looked up.

_For real?_

Lance only flashed her a grin and nodded.

_Yep._

“Miss Holt, Mr. McClain, unless the two of you have anything to share with the rest of the class, I suggest you keep your eyes on your desks.”

Ms. Harris’s tone wasn’t the least bit intimidating, but still held a note of warning. The two turned to their teacher’s questioning glance with a guilty nod of apology and turned back to their desks. 

And as soon as Ms. Harris had her head back down the two of them snuck a fist-bump from across the seating rows and excited grins behind their workloads.

* * *

 

Unlike last semester where Pidge had shared time slots and teachers for most of the core subjects and the two AP subjects Shiro took, the closest thing the second semester granted her was AP Calculus with Mr. Ahn for first period on Wednesday.

Which Shiro didn’t have the same time slot for.

Now the circumstance might be considered a little unfortunate if Shiro didn’t have A-level Chemistry with Professor Dos Santos that semester.

The very same class that took place right across the hall from AP Cal, therefore allowing Katie to walk with him to class on Wednesday morning and a few short minutes to chat before the warning bell rang for second period and they’d have to go to opposite ends of the building.

Which should be any minute by now.

Katie expended half of her attention span to write down the last minute reminders Mr. Ahn was giving and the other half to count the seconds before the bell would let out its unusual shrill chime.

“...the final project is due two weeks from now and final exams are the week after. Next week we’ll be reviewing chapters from start to finish. Class dismissed.”

And as if to punctuate the sentence, the bell sounded.

Quick as she could, Pidge set her papers in order best she could before closing her binder as she stood up, tucking precariously-hanging-off-the-edge loose leafs into the plastic confines of the binder’s built-in folder and shoving it all in her bag with a loud _zip_ as she went. 

A voice in the back of her mind chastised her for treating her sheets so poorly, making her wince.

 _I’ll organize you later_ , she thought, giving the front of her bag a few pats before lugging on the straps and heading out.

At least the papers didn’t wrinkle or fly out in response to the abuse.

But hey, can you blame a girl for being excited to see the guy she liked?

Pidge shoved the girlish thought as she stepped into the hall.

As expected, the hallway was nothing short of chaos as students filed out of the classrooms.

There was chatter all around, combined with the sound of lockers opening and closing with metallic clangs, footsteps as everyone headed left and right and up and down the stairs and the unmistakable burst of laughter and excited whoops from somewhere deeper down the hall.

Oddly enough, the symphony it all created wasn’t really _noise_ at it was a sort of comforting ambience for Katie.

For one thing, it wasn’t exactly _loud._

Everyone at Altea High (save for maybe Lance) knew to use their indoor voices and to not cause too much of a ruckus in the hallways and the general school population was just the right number for the halls to be a bearable volume on a regular school day yet absolutely _deafening_ whenever cheering and sports came into play.

Pidge fought back a cringe at the rough guesstimation of the maximum decibel count that would come out of everyone come the Championship Game.

(Maybe she’ll bring ear plugs to the game. Just in case.)   

Secondly, she had pretty much gotten used to whatever shenanigans the student body had to offer to be annoyed.

Going to the same school for the past three years would do that to anyone, Pidge figured, despite all the awkward adjustments in her first year here.

But then again, not everyone had to adjust being plucked from freshman year and dropped into sophomore into the second semester.

Behold the school administration, everyone.

Whichever the case, Katie knew that life was mostly natural selection and adaptation, so what used to be tuning out the world in exchange for tech became soaking all of it in, treating the mishmash of everyone’s voices less as an annoyance and more like daily life. Of course, she still couldn’t get the clear-cut read on everything like she did when it was quiet, but that didn’t stop her from growing comfortable with the sound all around her.

And in a few months, Pidge would have to associate different voices and a different student body to the ambiance she had long already grown accustomed to.

She shook her head as she continued her pace.

 _Now’s not the time to think about that_.

Especially not when Shiro had just walked out of A-level Chem and flashed her a smile as soon as his eyes met hers.

It was the kind of smile that could put all the football field’s fluorescent lighting to shame from its brightness, not unlike the one he put up when he posed for the school posters.

However, this one in particular still held some sort of tender familiarity in the form of crinkles at the corners of his eyes and warmth that he could only ever give to someone he had known for ages and had experienced a lot with. 

The kind of smile Katie dared to claim to be hers and hers alone.

“Pidge!” he called, narrowly dodging the people that walked around him as he stepped up to her.

She offered a wave. “Hey.” Her hand fell back down to tug at her backpack strap. “How was chem?”

Shiro shook his head. “Nothing too bad. Professor Dos Santos just started on reviewing everything from the top and we have a pop quiz next week. How was AP Cal?”

“Mr. Ahn was nice enough to make our review sheets take home. Also, he’s not planning a quiz anytime soon.” She continued her pace toward her locker.

“You know that Hunk and Lance are joining us this Sunday, right?” He asked when they stopped. Pidge noticed Shiro didn’t bother stopping by his own locker which was deeper down the hall.

He probably didn’t need to for his next period.

“Yeah.” She cranked in her combination and popped open the door before turning back to him.  “I know, Lance told me,” Pidge did the awkward shuffle of moving her backpack to hang on her front for easier access and unzipped it. From her peripheral, Shiro nodded in acknowledgment of the fact.

“Right.”

Katie pulled out her binder from AP Calc and made quick work to organize all the papers inside before shoving it back in her locker.

She also tried not to shudder as she felt Shiro’s eyes on her every move.  

“Can Allura come by any chance?” Pidge asked absently.

By now she had already gotten used to the little squeeze her heart made whenever she asked Shiro about his girlfriend and had mastered the art of feigning nonchalance.

Also, she wanted to be prepared.

Just in case.

Katie didn’t bother looking at him as she retrieved the books and binder for her next class. She couldn’t feel a prick in her chest if she couldn’t actually see the cause of such, right?

“Sadly, no.”

She also shouldn’t have felt as relieved as she did because Allura was her _friend_ and friends don’t act that way about each other when they couldn’t hang out, boyfriend or no.

“She’s booked until prom.” Shiro’s voice came again.

“That’s unfortunate,” Pidge said as she closed her locker. She made sure it was locked before turning to him.

“Speaking of prom, do you boys have plans already?”

“Plans?”

“Suit shopping? Corsages? Matt got too busy to ask via text so I’m his messenger pigeon.” 

The chuckle he let out at the title replaced the prick with warmth between her ribs. “That would be great. I already have a suit but I’ll be going with Keith and the others to help them pick.”

“You mean to make sure that Keith actually _gets_ a suit?”

He chuckled again, and this time it set a zoo to run a stampede all over her stomach. She shoved the feeling back by hugging her books closer to her chest.

“You know Keith.”

“I’ll tell Matt that you’ll text him, then.” She offered him her usual smile as she turned to the direction of the nearest stairwell.

And for some reason, Shiro still found the need to fall into step beside her despite the literal clock ticking before the warning bell sounded.

Meanwhile, Katie was still too preoccupied with the warmth at her side to acknowledge her insides turning to jelly.

Mostly.  

“You have dress shopping with Allura this Saturday, right?”

And just like that, her bodily functions went back to normal as she fought back a small cringe. “Yeah. Don’t remind me.”

“Pidge,” his tone wasn’t necessarily a scolding one but was still a timbre that made her feel defensive and stop in her tracks. 

“I know, I know. I should be excited. I kinda am, actually.” Katie defended, waiting for Shiro to drop the pointed look. “Just not at the prospect of not finding the right fit.”

Shiro watched her for a moment or two, but not looking directly _at_ her, like he was deep in thought. 

He put his hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sure you’ll look great in anything.” 

One thing that Katie had learned throughout her past two years of pining for Shiro was to completely ignore how any of his little gestures made her feel.

Or at least, try not to _show_ how they made her feel.

Every blush was fought back and every stutter immediately retaliated with coherent sentences or even just plain _rambling_ since it was a foolproof habit of hers anyways. Slips of the tongue were immediately covered up with jokes or excuses to leave, and any other moments of breathlessness were to be hidden behind whatever screen or book she had on hand.

.

.

.

No one was to find out.

_._

_._

_._

_Especially not Shiro_.

.

.

.  

However, that didn’t mean the little gestures and words couldn’t _make_ her breathless all the same.

Her track record has been getting kind of sketchy lately, now that she thought about it.

So what was just one more? 

“Thanks, Shiro.”

Throwing more caution to the wind, Katie offered him a smile that was less like her usual crooked smirk and more of a cheeky grin as she let her face flush.

Never mind that she probably looked like a tomato right now.

If anything, the way Shiro’s smile seemed to grow was a great indicator that the look on her face wasn’t the least bit weird.

.

.

. 

And then the warning bell rang.

.

.

.

The moment may have been broken but her chest was still ready to explode with warmth and would stay that way for the next few hours, give or take. 

“You have study hall, right?” she asked after mentally racking for his schedule.

Shiro nodded. “And _you_ still have AP Com Sci with Mrs. Olkari upstairs.”

The fact that he memorized her schedule shouldn’t have made her heart flutter more than it already was.

It was a normal thing amongst friends; in fact, she had Hunk’s, Keith’s, Lance’s and Allura’s schedules saved on her phone along with Shiro’s, and she knew for sure that they had hers and on their phones as well.

 _But they didn’t memorize it verbatim all the way down to the room numbers and teachers like Shiro did_ , the more girlish, hopeful part of her mind voiced.

She quickly stabbed it back.

 _Not now_ , _feelings. You already had your time._

Pidge managed a nod back.  “Yeah, see you later?”

She felt the hand on her shoulder give a small squeeze. “See you later.”

They went their separate ways: Katie turning a left to the stairwell and Shiro turning a right, most likely deeper down the hall to the library.

On her way up the stairs, Katie tried to keep her mind preoccupied from any more _feeling-related_ thoughts.

_Mrs. Olkari didn’t really assign anything for today except the worksheet so maybe today might also just be a recap day._

On impulse, she reached for the bottom of her backpack to feel the weight of the laptop that had always been in its respective pocket since she put in this morning.

She didn’t feel the need to be surprised at the fact that her hand was shaking. 

 _I’ll probably run into Keith on the way to lunch since he has Social Science just down the hall I think._  

Her chest was still warm and Pidge knew for sure that her face was still a little flushed.

_After Computer Science I have English back downstairs. A stop at my locker would be necessary._

.

.

.

And as soon as she knew she was a decent distance from Shiro on the floor above, Katie finally gave in.

 _Okay,_ now _you can start acting up_.

.

.

.

Soon enough she found herself hiding the biggest, giddiest smile behind her books and binders as she made her way to the computer lab.

.

.

.

The exact kind of smile that she knew she would cringe and scoff at later but hey.

Could you blame a girl?    

* * *

 

**Keith: _I’m free on Sunday_  **

**Lance: _???_**

**Lance: _and we should care because???_**

**Keith: _I’ll be joining you over at Pidge’s for hell week grinding_**

**Hunk: _are you bringing the caffeine again_  **

**Keith: _depends if @Pidge isn’t already stocked up_  **

**Pidge: _I got a couple of six-packs but don’t be afraid to bring more_**

**Keith: _coffee or redbull_**

**Pidge: _yes_**

**Keith: _noted_ **

**Shiro: _how do the two of you_ not _have heart problems?_**

**Keith: _I don’t have a heart_  **

**Pidge: _my name’s keith I’m so emo_**

**Pidge: _that’s enough out of you, edgelord_**

**Pidge: _also @Shiro i don’t know what you’re talking about i still have blood in my caffeine stream_**

**Hunk: _anything you guys want_ me _to bring?_**

**Shiro: _dinner?_**

**Pidge: _yeah mom would love to have some extra hands that won’t mess up_**

**Hunk: _oh man, don’t remind me_**

**Hunk: _how did you even burn water???_**

**Hunk: _I could see that coming from Lance but you?_ **

**Pidge: _Hunk pls_**

**Pidge: _also gtg guys. teacher walked in early._ **

**Hunk: _same here. talk to you later._**

**Shiro: _I’ll be seeing you_**

**Keith: _bye_**

**Lance:**   ** _hey, I saw that @Hunk_**

**Lance: _rude_**

**Hunk: _sorry man but it’s true_**

**Keith: _@Allura where are you Coran is looking for you_**

**Hunk: _hey Keith_**

**Hunk: _wya?_**

**Keith: _study hall in the library_**

**Keith: _have any of you guys seen Allura?_**

**Lance: _I would know if I saw a pretty lady_**

**Hunk: _nope, sorry_**

**Hunk: _@Shiro would you know?_**

**Shiro: _sorry but no_**

**Shiro: _she’s been really busy lately so I wouldn’t get my hopes up on getting her alone_**

**Allura: _oh, sorry!_**

**Allura: _@Keith I’m at the sports office with Romelle_**

**Keith: _got it_**

**Keith: _aCoran is waiting for you in the council room_**

**Hunk: _oh your co-captain?_**

**Lance: _the blonde flyer? i thought she was student council secretary or something?_**

**Allura: _that would be her. she happens to be both_**

**Allura: _anyways @Keith I’ll be on the way to Coran soon once I settle everything here_**

**Allura: _I’ll talk to all of you later!_**

**Allura: _< 3  _**

**Lance: _< 3  _**

**Hunk: _see you!_**

**Keith: _*seen*_**

**Pidge: _*seen*_**

**Shiro: _*seen*_**

* * *

 

“Now slowly immerse the iron nail in the electrolyte solution _without_ touching he mercury.” Professor Hedrick instructed to the AP Chemistry class before him.

Katie found herself at her usual table with Keith at the very back of the room, heads almost bumping together as they huddled over the watch glass that contained today’s experiment.

Katie only watched as Keith proceeded with the professor’s instruction. Her hands were too sweaty for a process as delicate as barely grazing a drop of poisonous substance with a five-inch sharp object, so she found it wise to leave the actual procedures to Keith who was not only dry-handed but also very knowledgeable when it came to sharp objects.

(Though Pidge was pretty sure he still could’ve had a firmer grip on the nail even without the fingerless gloves.)

“Careful,” she whispered as his hand started to move.

There was a tiny bit of a nudge against the side of her head as Keith nodded.

Katie held her breath as the tip of the nail inched closer and closer to the mercury.

A fraction of a centimeter later, the quicksilver started to move in place.

She let out a small gasp at the sudden movement. From her peripheral, she noticed Keith’s eyes widen by a fraction. Her ears also picked up a few awed sounds around her which Professor Hedrick took as a sign to continue with his instructions.

“I can from your reactions that the mercury started to move.”

There were a few small chuckles in response.

Katie looked up to see that the professor has changed the slide to one from their past discussions on redox reactions and electric double layers.

“Now,” Professor Hedrick gestured to the slide with his pointer. “I need you to answer the questions on your write-up sheets. You may also consult me regarding the final touches and any other progress for your final projects that should be due two weeks from now.”

Katie noticed a shift in her side. 

Said movement just happened to be Keith who had placed the nail back down onto the separate petri dish beside the mercury watch glass to glance at their teacher.

The professor put down his pointer to clap his hands. “Alright. You have forty minutes.”

And just like that, the awed silence from the experiment was replaced with hushed chatter amongst partners as they discussed their answers.

Katie opened her textbook and plucked their shared worksheet from where it was tucked between the pages of the latest topic as a bookmark.

“You’re almost done with yours, right?” Keith asked as he grabbed his pen before it rolled off the worktable.

For their final project, Professor Hedrick had individually assigned everyone to do a project of their own choosing so long as the topic was within anything they had discussed throughout the semester and was to be presented before the class the week after finals. Katie had opted to share her research in both a research paper and interactive web page.

She nodded. “Yeah. Just need to get started on the web page but I finished up a good chunk of my paper last Sunday.”

“You mean last Sunday with Shiro.”

She threw him a scowl. “Do you _want_ to die of mercury poisoning?”

He countered with a confused furrow between his brows. “You don’t have to be so defensive about it, you know.” He uncapped his pen. “I knew way before you told Hunk and Lance.”

The scowl only deepened on her end. “Of course you did.”

Stupid, perceptive asshole.

Keith just had to pick up on _everything_ , didn’t he?

“That’s just my way of telling you that you don’t have to be so on the fence about it.” He called calmly. “It’s alright to like him, you know.”

Another thing that Katie despised about Keith was how obvious he was when he was being honest.

He may be a stupid perceptive asshole but whenever he told you something important he would always look you straight in the eyes in full earnest, meaning every word that came out of his mouth. 

The only thing that gave him away whenever he lied was the way his eyes would nervously dart around the room.

And now, judging by how his gaze was unwavering as he met hers, Katie only knew he meant well with what he said without the slightest hint of teasing and understood completely.

She breathed out a tired sigh. “Look,” she started, tugging at the back of her hair. “Can we just _not_ talk about this? Please?”

And as easy as that, Keith understood and nodded. “Alright.” 

He then proceeded to shuffle a little closer to get a better look at their worksheet, a signal for the two of them to get to work.

“First question,” he read in a monotone. “Define the nature of redox reactions. How did a redox reaction manifest in the experiment?”

“A redox reaction is a type of chemical reaction that involves a transfer of electrons between two species,” Pidge answered without missing a beat. She reached for her pen with one hand while the other slid the sheet closer towards her before leaning down to fill in her answer.

The action made some locks slip out of the last-minute ponytail she had stuffed her hair into before they started on the experiment.

Wordlessly, she reached behind her to yank out her hair tie while her dominant hand kept writing. She stuck her arm out to Keith’s direction.

“Do you mind?”

Keith was quick to comply as he grabbed the tie and stepped behind her.

Pidge couldn’t help but smile.

The perks of having a good friend as a lab partner, she supposed.

Aside from Lance, Keith was the only other guy she ever trusted to tie her hair up if the short, stubby ponytail he was currently sporting wasn’t any better indication.

Unlike with Hunk or god forbid, _Matt_ , there was no impending fear of a few strands getting uprooted by clueless and clumsy fingers.

(She still had yet to know if Shiro was good at tying hair, but Katie never dared to ask.)

Skilled enough with her hair as Keith was, though, Pidge was still careful to not move her head too much as he ran his fingers to untangle her hair.

“You need to invest in better hair ties.” He heard him mutter before gently gathering her hair at the back of her head. “The ones with metal can damage your hair and are a pain to untangle out if they get stuck.” He did quick work of tying her hair, then gave it a final tug. “There.”

“You’re starting sound like Lance and its hella creepy.” She snorted. From her peripheral she noted Keith stepping back to his place beside her. “But thank you.” Pidge punctuated the last sentence of the definition before sliding the paper over to Keith. “Second part of Q1 is yours, by the way.”

He nodded as he pulled the sheet closer to him, muttering the question to himself once more. He turned to her. “The EDL that forms around the mercury is the redox reaction, right?”

Katie nodded. “And the movement itself.”

“Right.” Keith mumbled under his breath before he started writing.

“How about you? How’s the AP Chem final project going?”

Another thing that Katie noticed about the relationship she had with Keith was how they could easily banter in between work and still get things done.

She watched as he finished writing a sentence before answering. “Could be doing better. I’m dead inside. Haven’t slept in a week.”   

“You were weak, you were awake?”

Keith didn’t bother suppressing a smirk at the _Hamilton_ reference. “You watch us during practice. Pretty sure you already know how brutal Iverson can be.” He paused for a moment, as if recalling what he needed to write next. He penned a few phrases before turning back to her. “Speaking of which, will you be able to stay a little longer later?”

Katie shook her head. “As much as I want to, my parents and Matt still aren’t fond of the idea of me going home so late. Even if it _is_ for you guys.”

She eyed the sheet for a moment to look over what Keith had written down so far.

So far, so good.

While he wasn’t a full-fledged honor student in _every_ subject, Keith still had his strengths on reading and analysis, which made AP Chem one of his strong suits.

Maybe if he just had the patience to apply himself to all the _other_ subjects he actually had a spot on the Honor Roll.

Then again he couldn’t be shitted to study for a quiz if anyone tried. He’d still do well without studying anyways.

“And you know I just juggle back and forth between doing homework and devising strategies on the bleachers instead of actually _watching_ your progress nowadays.”

“So that’s a no, but you’ll still be at practice anyways.” Keith put his pen down and slid the worksheet back to her. “Iverson has been glaring at you lately, by the way.”

Katie snorted as she retrieved the paper. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Glaring more so than usual. Like you could on your laptop while sitting on the bleachers and he’d be looking at you like you were hacking into the school system instead of finishing up a term paper.”

“Who says I wasn’t?” Pidge shot him a grin. “Also you of all people should know that I couldn’t give a flying fuck about Iverson’s eternal Resting Bitch Face.” She looked back down on the sheet.

Time to get back to work.

“ _Define an electric double layer and its parts. Differentiate between the two layers._ ”

She thought for a moment. “A structure - that appears on the surface - of an object - when exposed to a liquid.” She muttered as she wrote.

“The first layer is the surface charge.” Keith offered. “Its ions are absorbed into the object itself due to chemical interactions.”

Katie nodded as she punctuated the sentence. “And the second is…?”

Of course she already knew the answer but it did help to know his interpretation of it.

“Diffuse layer. It screens the surface charge.” From the corner of her eye, she noted Keith redoing his own ponytail.

“So,” Pidge started as she wrote down Keith’s words with a few of her own input. “Any particular reason why Shiro needs to chaperone your suit choices?” she looked up. “Aside from the obvious, I mean.”

The tips of Keith’s ears started to turn pink. “I’m no good at fashion.” He muttered quietly.

She chuckled. “You and me both.” She looked back down to write some more. “Which was why Allura took it upon herself to help me pick a dress.”

A skip in her heartbeat was immediately filled in with a prickle of a sting in the tender spot between her lungs.

“Talk about a power couple, huh?” she joked.

Of course, the effort was futile when Pidge noticed the way Keith watched her.

“Sure.” He muttered before looking over the sheet. “The difference between the two layers?”

She couldn’t be more thankful for the change in topic.

“Well,” she started, pushing up her glasses. “The only difference between the two layers is how they’re anchored to the object or in this case,” she gestured to the watch glass. “ _Fluid._ ”

Keith nodded, his way of telling her to go on.

Pidge drew her hand back. “Like you said, the surface charge is directly absorbed into the object due to chemical interactions. The diffuse layer isn’t really associated with the object itself as compared to the connection with the surface charge. It’s mostly Coulomb forces.”

He seemed to contemplate her answer. “The ions are still in motion in the fluid, though.”

“But that’s only under the influence of electrical attraction and thermal motion.” She reasoned. “It’s still not firmly attached to the object. The diffuse layer is mostly associated with the surface charge than anything else.”

“That’s a common misconception. Both have ions in the object but only the surface charge ions get absorbed while the ones from the diffuse layer just…” he paused to find the words. “Float around within the object, I guess.”

“Because of electrical attraction and thermal motion.” Pidge reiterated. “The ions only keep… _floating around_ ,” she air-quoted. “Due to naturally occurring processes…?” she trailed off knowing her answer wasn’t exactly the correct one. 

She may be at the top of their batch but that didn’t mean she was always right.

The furrow that started to form between Keith’s brows only affirmed her suspicion. “I wouldn’t say naturally occurring processes. It has more to do with the Coulomb forces that tie it with the surface charge.” He paused, probably to properly gather his answer. “The Coulomb forces stop it from moving closer to the object. Hence the floating around.”

Oh.

_Oh._

Wow.

That was actually pretty well thought-out.

Katie nodded as she quickly wrote down what she remembered from Keith’s answers.

A few short minutes of writing and recalling in silence.

And then she slid their sheet back over to Keith. “Look it over? You seem to know the answer better than I do.”

He flashed her a smirk. “The few people who can.” He teased before doing what she asked.

In the moments it took for Keith to look over what she wrote, Katie let out a yawn.

Stretched.

Yawned again.

Ugh.

 _School_.

“It’s all good.” Keith said before proceeding to the next question. “Q3: Explain the process of a battery accepting a charge when taking into account its surface charge.”

She thought back to their last lesson. “Generally it takes a while for the deeper layers of a battery to accept a charge _because_ of its surface charge.”

“Overtime the charge would penetrate into the deeper layers. Adding more charge helps.”      

“But the internal resistance increase in proportion to the influx of charge. That would cause gases to form inside the battery that could damage it.”

“Yeah, but eventually resistance would fall if you give it time. That would allow more charge to enter the battery but with less chemical reaction-“

“And therefore lesser chances of gas formation.” She finished for him.

A pause.

“Did you remember all that?”

Keith nodded and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah.” He said before he wrote their answers down.

As he worked away, Pidge took the moment to take a deep breath, feeling the stress of the week finally weigh down above her head and crash down in a fell swoop of tiredness despite it still being Thursday.

Everything was starting to pile up.

The Championship game was set for next Saturday evening and Pidge still had yet to figure out a strategy they could use to counter Galra High.

And then there was still prom dress shopping and more homework to finish up.

Aside from her AP workload, still had a few more final projects for her core subjects to work on, all of which she had barely even scratched in favor of prioritizing robotics.  

At least she didn’t have to worry about any of her extra-curriculars; contest season had just recently dwindled to a close last month and Pidge had the gold medals and trophies to officially end her final year of competing as a high schooler with a bang.

Now without the excuse of a competition or regional quiz bee, Pidge had to focus solely on academics.

Insert tired sigh here.

She wasn’t lying when she told Shiro that she could be physically _buried_ under the work she had to do.

And on the side note of Shiro…

 _Ugh_.

On top of all _that_ , she still had no idea how to deal with her current… _situation_ with him.

Wanting to distract herself, Pidge flipped open her book to the explanation behind their experiment.

**_The contraction and relaxation of the mercury is due to changes in the surface tension of, and charge on, the mercury drop._ **

While she and the others had already started writing and sending in their applications, her best friend still had yet to tell them where he intended to go after Altea.

**_When the mercury is not in contact with the iron nail, its surface becomes oxidized and the positive mercury ions repel each other, causing the mercury pool to relax._ **

Katie knew state universities all over had been watching Shiro for the past year along with a few _out_ of state. 

**_The relaxation causes the mercury to come into contact with the iron nail, which has a sufficiently negative electrochemical potential to reduce the mercury ions to mercury metal._ **

Regardless of whether or not Shiro will tell them where he was going soon, though, with her eyes dead set on MIT Pidge knew that the September of next year would mean separation either way.

**_The surface tension of the mercury increases and the pool contracts, causing the contact with the nail to be broken. The mercury surface reacts with the acid and becomes oxidized again, thereby, completing one cycle of the oscillation._ **

And she still wasn’t completely sure how to deal with their situation before then.

As much as she hated to admit it, she had no idea where to go from where they were now. They were friends, the closest for sure, and while Shiro was dating Allura, that didn’t mean Katie should deny herself the chance to tell him how she felt.

Even if it was all one-sided.

Her heart was mercury, already highly reactive on its own then reduced to a stuttering mess and fully charged when doused in his attention.

And with every oscillation that made her inch closer towards him, she was just as determined to pull back when she got too close.    

Only to for the process to repeat over and over again.

With a heavy sigh, she slammed her book close.

“Hey?” Keith asked, looking up. “You doing okay?”

 _No_.

Katie managed to feign a nod. “Yeah.”   

He didn’t seem to buy the answer and only stayed silent as he stared at her.

“Twenty minutes, everyone!”

Professor Hedrick’s voice made the two of them look away to the other end of the room.

Twenty minutes and they still had three questions to go.

Katie and Keith traded looks, means of the unanimous decision to drop the topic and focus on the sheet.

And then they simultaneously let out a groan.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LIVE I SWEAR. 
> 
> Anyways, this chapter was originally supposed to be longer but then I opted to move parts around into the next chapter instead because 1) this story is actually really high demand and I wanted to get this up before I get busy again with the [Pidge Shipping Zine](pidgeshipzine.tumblr.com) and [Pidge Ship Week](https://pidgeshipweek.tumblr.com/) and 2) I figured that it ends just fine on the note I left it on. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy! 
> 
> ALSO the lovely [greg-the-goose](greg-the-goose.tumblr.com) on tumblr drew [this](https://greg-the-goose.tumblr.com/post/163428379767/if-you-havent-read-hearmyvoiceoftreason-s-fic?is_highlighted_post=1) wonderful art of the final scene of Chapter 2 please love and appreciate it and her thank you.
> 
>  **EDIT (08.04.18):** I changed a certain character's name due to S6 working in my favor ;)

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on [tumblr](hearmyvoiceoftreason.tumblr.com)?


End file.
